PORT WORKS
DEPOT & P.W.D.
LABORATORY
NORTH POINT
FLOO
רין
In a paper read before the En- gineering Society of Hong Kong on 5th October, 1949, Dr. S.Y. King, B.Sc., Ph.D., said: "It is well know that a sound engineering design must be ac- companied by the use of the right kind of materials. The modern in- dustrial method of mass production would not have been possible but for the use of uniform raw materials. Specifications on different engineer- ing materials have thus been set up as follows:- in various countries, e.g. those by the British Standards Institution, the American Society of Testing Materials, etc. Material testing laboratories have also been established to check the suitability of materials used. It is interesting to note that material testing laboratories have been in exis- tence for nearly a century
"It is true that Hong Kong is main- ly a port of trade and not an indus- trial centre. Our industry here is negligibly small in comparison with
(a)
View of the Laboratory from King's Road.
L
The building is straightforward in Soil analysis of site samples elevations.
design, with simple and unadorned It is two-storeyed over from bore holes or trial pits, most of its area, and divided into four (b) Analysis of building materials sections the Port Works Office, the delivered to all major Govern- Port Works Stores and a Caretaker's ment engineering and archi- flat on the ground floor, with the tectural works,
P.W.D. Laboratory on the first floor. Progress analysis of site pre- Though contained in the same build- pared materials, including ing, each of these sections is complete- complete control tests of all ly isolated from the others and each concrete aggregate grading, has a separate entrance. mix proportions, water content
The entrance to the Port Works and concrete compression tests. offices is at the north-west end of
(C)
foremen.
that of Britain or U.S.A. From the The direct effect of this close con- the building, and includes rooms for economical point of view, there is trol of site work has resulted in two Inspectors of Works and two certainly no justification of having in economy of materials and an improve- this Colony a laboratory as elaborate ment in the standard of work produc- as the National Physical Laboratory ed by contractors. in Britain..........
over
The P.W.D. Laboratory is adminis- "A public material testing labora- tered by the Port Works Office under tory has certain advantages
the Chief Engineer, Mr. H. W. Forsyth, private ones run by individual firms B. Civil), A. M. N. Z. Inst. E., Firstly, no private firm can afford to A. M. I. C. E. and since its inception spend money on laboratory equipment in January 1950 has carried out thou- other than that which is absolutely sands of tests on engineering materials essential to its work. Secondly, it is for various Government Departments. more economical to
In addition, with a growing apprecia- run a public laboratory than to run several small tion of the scope and value of the private ones. In this way, we can not laboratory, an increasing number of only avoid the unnecessary cost of requests for tests is being received repetitions in certain equipment, but from leading consulting engineers and also afford to invite experts to super- architects. This of course is being vise certain specialized experiments, encouraged and such tests are carried such as soil analysis or the tests on
out at nominal charges. dielectric strength of electrical mate- rials. Lastly, a public laboratory can serve those small firms which possess no testing facilities of their own.....
The Port Works Stores take up most of the ground floor area, with the entrance at the back of the building. A stores office is provided near the entrance, which is used for records and for easy control of both incoming and outgoing stores: most of the re- mainder of this section, totalling 4000 square feet, is taken up by eleven stores in which the many different articles needed by the department are stocked. Chain link mesh partitions divide the different areas.
In the west corner of the building
is the caretaker's flat, which com- prises a large combined living and bedroom, a toilet and a kitchen.
The laboratory was previously hous- The P.W.D. Laboratory, which oc- ed in a temporary wooden hut at cupies the entire first floor, is reached Arsenal Street but the new ferro-con- frem a staircase having an entrance crete building includes adequate space at the front of the building. The for the apparatus they had then and accommodation in the laboratory in- The P.W.D. Testing Laboratory in also for the new equipment since re- cludes testing rooms for concrete. the building at present under review ceived and still on order. It has been aggregate, steel, bituminous materials, is not a public testing laboratory as sited adjoining the block-casting and cement and scil: and a balance room. envisaged by Dr. King, but it is a step prestressing yards at North Point and analysis room. sample room. in the right direction. As additional with them provides a modern concrete shop, supervisor's office and a general apparatus is received and installed, precasting organization so necessary office, a small store room and lava- the scope of its usefulness will be for the class of work undertaken by tories. extended and more private work the Port Works Office. undertaken. In any case, its func-
tions are restricted to the testing of The new building is located im- materials used in building construc- mediately north of King's Road, and tion or civil engineering projects. The is almost opposite to the Hongkong general tests that are carried out are Model Housing Society's flats.
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work-
The steel testing room is not yet in use, but the necessary equipment is expected soon and, when it is put into operation, it will further extend the usefulness of this department.
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